Cathedral Of Saint Peter (Rockford, Illinois) on:
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The Cathedral of Saint Peter is the
The parish had its beginnings with the establishment of St. William's chapel in 1915. It was established as a mission of St. Mary's parish downtown. Property on the summit of Council Hill, also known as Piety Hill, was purchased in 1920 for a new parish. A combination church and school was built on Court Street beginning in 1921.
The
Official Cathedral Site
Diocese of Rockford Official Site
{{Catholicism Christian organizations established in 1922 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1960 Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford Peter Rockford Churches in Winnebago County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Rockford, Illinois Italianate architecture in Illinois 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Italianate church buildings in the United States
mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...
of the Catholic Diocese of Rockford. It is the second church to serve the diocese as its cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
.
History
The parish had its beginnings with the establishment of St. William's chapel in 1915. It was established as a mission of St. Mary's parish downtown. Property on the summit of Council Hill, also known as Piety Hill, was purchased in 1920 for a new parish. A combination church and school was built on Court Street beginning in 1921.
The cornerstone
A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...
for the present church was blessed by Bishop Loras Lane in August 1958 and it was dedicated on May 15, 1960. Bishop Arthur O'Neill designated St. Peter's as the diocesan cathedral on October 11, 1970. St. James on North Second Street in Rockford had been the pro-cathedral
A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish Church (building), church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefect ...
of the diocese from its foundation in 1908. Bishop Lane planned to construct a large pyramid-shaped cathedral, but his untimely death and the high projected construction costs doomed the project. What he had founded in 1962 as "Cathedral Parish" for the new cathedral was renamed Holy Family Parish. O'Neill formally consecrated St. Peter's on October 11, 1978. The present altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
was consecrated by Cardinal Francis George
Francis Eugene George (January 16, 1937 – April 17, 2015) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois (1997–2014) and previously served as bishop of the Dio ...
of Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
on September 29, 1998.
Pipe organ
St. Peter's houses a 1978 Wicks Organ Companypipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...
, Opus 5706. It is located in the rear gallery of the cathedral. Some of the pipes are exposed in the large case that frames a rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...
. The organ features 5 divisions, 45 stops, 47 ranks, and 2,707 pipes. The manual compass is 61 notes and the pedal compass is 32 notes.
See also
*List of Catholic cathedrals in the United States
The Catholic Church in the United States comprises ecclesiastical territories called dioceses, eparchies, and ordinariates led by prelate Ordinary (church officer), ordinaries known as bishops. Each bishop is assigned to a cathedral from which ...
*List of cathedrals in the United States
This is a list of cathedrals in the United States, including both actual cathedrals (seats of bishops in Episcopal polity, episcopal Christian groups, such as Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy an ...
References
External links
Official Cathedral Site
Diocese of Rockford Official Site
{{Catholicism Christian organizations established in 1922 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1960 Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford Peter Rockford Churches in Winnebago County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Rockford, Illinois Italianate architecture in Illinois 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Italianate church buildings in the United States